Thursday, May 18, 2017

20 Badges, Ideas, and More to Tell Customers “Thank You For Supporting Small Business”

Every small business owner is thankful for their customers.

Without those loyal customers that keep coming to your door, running your business would bea lotharder.

When customers give you the love—puttingtheirdollars intoyoursmall business—it’s nice to give them some love back. In fact, showing a little appreciation might help keep your customers coming back to you—research shows that68% of customers will switch the brands they shop withbecause they felt as though businesses didn’t care if they shopped with them or not.

So how can you say, “thank you for supporting small business?”

Here are # badges, ideas, and more creative ways to show your customers just how much you appreciate them.

1. Send a Thank You Note

A thank you note is a tried-and-true way to show that you appreciate someone’s effort to shop with you.

We aren’t talking about just a generalized, simple, “Thank you!”

Go the extra mile and write apersonalizednote. Show your customers you remember their business by mentioning a product they bought with you. The more specifics, the better.

It’s surprising how rarely this show of gratitude is used—it just takes a few moments to give a thank you note that personalized touch!

2. Show the Love with These Badges

If you really want the “thank you for supporting small business” sentiment to show loud and clear, make your appreciation public!

We’ve made it easy to use one of our two (or both!) customer appreciation badges.

Add a thank you badge to your website for all your site users to see, or print a badge out and place it on your store’s windows or checkout site, or frame it for a nice wall decoration!

Download our “thank you for supporting small business” badges.

3. Offer a Customer Loyalty Program

Nothing says “thank you” to your small business’s best customers like a solid customer loyalty program.

A customer loyalty program can take many shapes depending on the type of business you run.

A coffee shop, for instance, could implement a loyalty program where every 10th coffee bought at the store is thanked with a free coffee. Or, a retail store could offer rewards towards the products sold after a customer has spent a certain amount at the store. Anything that allows customers to redeem their accrued rewards on their future purchases will work! And if you want to bring your loyalty program to the next level, offer tiered rewards to your most dedicated and long-term customers.

Almost any business that sells a product or service can implement a customer loyalty program that shows your appreciation for customers that always come back.

4. Provide Free Upgrades

If you’re not ready to set up a formal customer loyalty program (offering a potential of freebies foranycustomer), then you could sporadically give free product upgrades for your longest, most loyal customers.

This appreciation tactic works well for business that offers a service. For instance, if you have a long-time customer who’s used the most basic subscription level for a while now, offer to give them more functionality at a discounted (or no) cost.

And if you’re a business that sells products, offer an even bigger discount during a big sale for your long-term customers.

5. Offer a Product Giveaway

Another way to show customers you appreciate their business is to give away free products, services, expertise, or advice in a freebie giveaway.

A sweepstakes-style can reward customers for shopping with your small business, or even keeping up with your newsletter, by giving away free products.

It doesn’t have to be much—and a giveaway could be a good way to also get rid of some extra inventory you have lying around.

6. Meet Special Customers in Person

If you have a particularly loyal and special customer, take the time out of your day to visit their business, or meet them for coffee to personally communicate your thanks. You don’t need to break the bank for a big visit, but simply taking the time out of your busy day will do.

As long as it proves valuable for both you and the customer, your client should find that the extra step taken shows your appreciation. Plus, you can take the time to have a meaningful conversation about how your business can serve the clientbetter.

If you have a B2B client all the way across the country, for instance, remember to schedule a quick visit to their offices, get to know their business a little more closely, and give a genuine “thank you” in person.

7. Choose a Customer of the Month

There are a whole bunch of ways to get creative with a “customer of the month (or even week!) club.”

This could be a profile on a certain customer that you feature on your website’s blog. Or, if you have a retail store with a variety of products in, show a picture and a quick blurb of thanks on your whiteboard (if the customer is comfortable with it).

If you run a B2B model, you can even offer your customer of the month’s products in your own store.

8. Host a Customer Appreciation Party

If you operate in a small town, community, or neighborhood, an easy way to thankallof your customersallat once is to throw a customer appreciation party.

This could be a relaxed barbecue, an after hours dinner or cocktail event, or even an hour long special event during lunch on a weekday. (Offer an exclusive look into a new product, and you might get customers coming back for more.)

9. Encourage Them to Give You a Second Chance

An easy way to show your first-time customers that you appreciate their business is to have themgive you a second chanceif they returned or missed your product or service.

Say, for instance, you run a clothing store and a first-time customer returned a product they purchased. Ask them for a second chance (and show them you appreciated their business in the first place) by offering a 10% discount on the next product they buy.

Or, if you run an events business and for some reason, a customer couldn’t attend (bad weather, traffic, or an unexpected conflict), give them a certificate, refund, or discount on a next service.

Not only do these gestures show that you appreciate your customer’s business, but you’ll encourage them to come back for more.

10. Share Their Businesses and Products

If your business is run on a B2B model, then an easy way to show your appreciation and help support your fellow entrepreneurial customers is to share their products on your website or in your store.

In a reciprocal approach, you could offer a discount to your customer’s business and they could offer one to yours. Reach out to your best customers and see if they’d be interested in sharing a special code with you so that you can drive some traffic to their business.

Simply promoting their products and services is a great way to say thank you for supporting your small business.

11. Get Sharing on Social Media

Social mediais a great creative outlet for all sorts of business purposes, including a stellar customer appreciation campaign.

There are a bunch of different campaigns that could work for your business.

You could invite your best and most loyal customers to an exclusive Facebook group where you post special deals or early-bird events.

Or, you could take the time to snap a picture of a happy customer with their product, and post a quick blurb on why they are such a great customer. A quick (and public) thank you will show how much you care!

You could also createa social media loyalty programwhere customers could earn rewards points by sharing your posts or providing feedback to your business via a social media channel.

12. Offer a Feedback Session

Another way to show your thanks for your customers loyalty and support is to show that you care about their opinion and experience.

Offer a feedback channel where customers can voice their experiences (good and bad) with your business. Or, host a special event where you hear—and talk through—your business with your most loyal customers.

Showing that you’re responsive to a customer’s feedback shows implicitly that you care about their business and what they think of your product and services.

Of course, showing that you’re responsive means that you actually have torespondto their reviews and feedback. If a customergives you a bad review, genuinely respond to the feedback!

13. Give a Charitable Gift in Their Honor

If you have a lifetime customer you’d like to show a major gesture of thanks, you could make a charitable donation to a cause relevant to your business (or theirs) in their honor.

Oftentimes, a charitable donation can mean more to a customer than a simple freebie gift would. Taking a thoughtful look at what your customers care about, and finding the right charity to contribute to, can show that you’ll go the extra mile to show your appreciation.

14. Show Your Appreciation with Exclusive Events

In another loyalty and reward program, you could give your customers more intangible benefits than discounts or freebies by offering a special events series for loyal, long-time customers.

If you run a coffee shop, you could host a 3-part series of special brewing sessions for your loyal (and engaged customers). Or, if you offer a particularly technical service, you could have your experts host informative, bonus sessions for your best customers.

Any event, session, or expert series that show you value your best customers might be a good way to give more value to your customers in the long-run.

15. Send Treats

Everyone loves a few little treats now and then. And sending over some cookies, chocolates, or flowers to your best customers could be a little “thank you for supporting small business” that keeps your customer coming back.

There’s no need to make a grand (and expensive) gesture when it comes to sending treats. Just a little something with a simple, handwritten note will be appreciated.

You can make a habit of this and send out thank you treats every year to your best customers. Or you could line them up with holidays and events each year.

16. Refer New Customers to Your Business Clients

Nothing says thank you for supporting your business like sending your customersmorebusiness.

If you operate under a B2B model, this is a particularly good way to show your appreciation.

If your client offers services of their own, send your other customers, friends, and family their way! This could become a formal referral partnership in the future, or it could remain an informal gesture of thanks.

17. Give Some Swag

Got a great customer that keeps coming back? Send them some company swag!

If you give your employees hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, or other branded material, send some to your best customers! They’ll appreciate the small (and useful) gesture.

18. Remember Their Birthdays

Everyone likes a little love on their birthday—your customers included.

Take the time to send a specialized email or note that gives your customer a happy birthday wish, or even a birthday gift or discount code. Many businesses don’t do this, so if you take the extra step to do so, you might be able to set yourself apart from the rest.

If you run a website, or acquire customers via the internet, ask them for their birthday and month when they give you their email or set up an account with you. This is an easy way to keep track of the date and send over a note when a customer’s birthday rolls around.

Or, if you run a brick-and-mortar store, leave a note at checkout letting your customers know that birthdays come with a special discount as a gift!

19. Use Your Customer Data

Odds are, you collect some sort of customer data and purchasing data on your customers.

For instance, if you notice that a certain customer loves a certain type of product on your site, or engages with a special type of content, send them recommendations, suggestions, or tailored communication to show that you took some extra time to get to know what your customer is interested in.

20. Don’t Forget the Value of Great Customer Service—Always

When it comes down to it, nothing says “thank you for supporting small business” like stellar customer service, every. single. day.

Every time a customer gets on the phone with your sales representative or talks to an employee in person, make sure they get thebestcustomer service experience possible.

Show them that they have your undivided attention, and that you care about their time and business. Doing so will show how much you appreciate their business without making a major gesture.

In the end, working for the “wow” from any and all customers will go a long way for your business.

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What’s your favorite way to say “thanks?” Tell us your best customer appreciation idea in the comments!